After a long hiatus, I return once more to the works of Massachusetts dancing master George F. Walters, creator of the Exeter Waltz and Exeter Caprice! Cupid's Gavotte (1915) is something different, both for Mr. Walters and myself: rather than a social dance, it is intended as a performance piece for a group of four or eight girls, or as a solo. Dance school recital pieces are not normally a major interest of mine, but since I happen to own the sheet music and social dancing continues to not be much of a thing due to the pandemic, well, here we are with something that can be danced entirely alone, though of course it's more impressive in a group.
Over the course of this series of posts I'll cover the individual steps and then the full sequence with my reconstructions for solo or group performance.
The music of Cupid's Gavotte is notated in 4/4 and is essentially a schottische, but since the dance was created for a specific tune, I commissioned a basic piano recording to match my reconstruction from Alexandra Neronova, which may be purchased here. (Edited 5/31/22 to add: payment for this recording goes to me; it does not benefit anyone in Russia.)
Before I get to the actual dance, let me first point out that if the cover image seems vaguely familiar, that's because it was copied from one of the poses of the Castle Gavotte, with the addition of some antenna-like feathers in the lady's hair and a change in the angle of her head. Compare the image at left with the cover above (click both images to enlarge in separate windows) and the copying is obvious.
Other than the cover, there is nothing in common between Cupid's Gavotte and the Castle Gavotte or, for that matter, any other couple-dance gavotte of the many I have discussed in the past. Cupid's Gavotte is not even a couple dance! There is no male partner, or any partner, involved. The cover has absolutely nothing to do with the actual dance. It's just advertising, piggybacking on the fame of the Vernon and Irene Castle.
The actual dance consists of seven short step-sequences (unhelpfully called "steps") performed in a specific order, which I will cover one by one. It will be helpful when learning the dance to master each of the sequences before putting them all together.
Step #1: Side Movement (two bars of 4/4 time)
1 Step right foot to side
2 Cross left foot behind right
& Step right foot to side
3 Cross left foot in front of right
4 Sweep right foot around to point forward, raised
12 Tap right foot lightly on the ground once
34 Tap a second time
The first 12&3 are grapevine with an irregular rhythm. My mnemonic for the whole sequence is "grape vine-and-three, sweep, tap...tap..."
The step is also done to the left:
1 Step left foot to side
2 Cross right foot behind right
& Step left foot to side
3 Cross right foot in front of right
4 Sweep left foot around to point forward, raised
12 Tap left foot lightly on the ground once
34 Tap a second time
Generally the taps -- which are mere touches, not meant to make noise! -- are done without weight, with the sequence repeating with the same lead foot, but at some point the direction has to change, so it should also be practiced with the final tap being followed by a shift of weight onto that foot in order to switch directions. The tap doesn't turn into a step; the tap is on "3" and the shift of weight is most gracefully and subtly performed on 4. This is an artistic choice on my part; Mr. Walters did not concern himself with little details like how the transitions actually work, or at least did not choose to include them in his instructions.
In the next post in this series: more step-sequences to practice!
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